Members of the South Carolina Secessionist Party flew Confederate flags Sunday along U.S. 123 in Clemson.

The display was the first in Clemson since the university student government passed a resolution in September condemning such displays. The resolution came on the heels of a "flagging" at the end of August.

James Bessenger, chairman of the state Secessionist Party, said about two dozen people participated in the display throughout the day on Sunday. Similar displays were held in Charleston and Columbia at the same time.

Bessenger said the participants are generally from the area where the display is held.

Toni Vitanza, who moved to Clemson in 2005, was frustrated by the display. Her Facebook post describing the event had been shared over 500 times by Monday afternoon. Her husband teaches at the university.

"What I have seen in the course of 13 years is a pattern of intolerance and racism and even celebration of it," she said of the Clemson area. "When my husband spends a great deal of his life recruiting doctoral students to campus, I can see how difficult it is when people see and hear about these kinds of things."

Bessenger said the flag displays were not about the university — at first.

"They made it personal with their resolution," he said. "What would have been a less frequent thing will be a more frequent thing."

In the September resolution, the student government said, "the display of this flag is not illegal; however, it does promote racial tensions at a university which prides itself on its core values of Honesty, Integrity, and Respect."

Following the resolution, the Secessionist Party contacted the student government and called for a debate about the flag.

"Those individuals who conduct flaggings and historical presentations in the Clemson area are South Carolina natives, born and raised for generations, whose taxes fund your institution," Bessenger wrote at the time.

Bessenger said the flag displays are not about hate but about asking the state to display the Confederate flag, which was removed from the State House grounds in 2015.

Vitanza said she wants to see some shame attached to flag displays and for people to understand that "polite society does not think it is so cute."

She suggests people boycott businesses where those who participate in the flag displays work.

"They have a right to express opinions but have a responsibility to deal with consequences," she said.

To her, the display of a flag that symbolizes hate to many was particularly egregious on Sunday given the "spate of violence" in the previous week, from bombs being sent to politicians, to two African Americans being killed at a Kroger, to an attack on a synagogue that left 11 people dead.

When asked about the timing of the flag display, Bessenger said it had nothing to do with national events and was planned weeks in advance.

"I do not see a correlation between a disgusting terror attack on a synagogue and what we do," he said.